Chapter 4 – The Morning After

Lily woke next morning with stiff limbs and a pounding headache. This was hardly surprising given the events of the previous night. When her eyes finally focused the first thing she saw was James, sitting in a chair next to her bed, with a look of worry on his face. He brightened when she opened her eyes.

"Morning Lily. How are you feeling?"

"Like there's a troll tap dancing competition going on in my head." Lily put her hand to her forehead. "What time is it?"

"Half past nine." James replied. Lily sat up. And immediately regretted it.

"What? Why didn't you wake me? I've missed breakfast and most of Charms! I..."

James put a hand to her shoulder and gently eased her back down. "It's okay Lily. I've told Professor Flitwick you were feeling sick. He's agreed to let you catch up tomorrow. Professor Slughorn said the same. Old Sluggy said you needed a break anyway."

Lily laid her head back down on her pillow. "Thanks James."

"Oh yes and Madame Pomfrey sent you this. She says to take one every half hour. Starting now." James handed her a small bottle. Lily opened it and drew out a bright blue tablet. She swallowed it and grimaced.

"You'd think by now they would have figured out how to make these taste nice. Pumpkin juice flavour for instance."

James laughed. "Come on Lils! If it tastes horrible that's how you know it's doing you good." Lily spotted the use of her nickname but didn't say anything. In fact she found she quite liked the sound of it coming from his mouth. Maybe she had hit her head harder than she thought.

A thought struck her. She propped herself up on her elbows. "James, you said last night you'd explain what was going on. Well I think I've got time now."

James sat back in his chair. "Not all that much to explain really. Remus is a werewolf. Dumbledore knew when Remus started in his first year. He had the Shrieking Shack built and the Whomping Willow planted before the year began." James leaned his head back and closed his eyes before continuing. "We, that is Sirius and me, we could see something was wrong with him. He was always the boy sat on his own in the corner, never talking to anyone. He always looked so ill. Well we started talking to him. I think he'd never really spoken to anyone before."

Lily could see the long forgotten emotions passing over James's face. It was funny. She had always remembered James in his first year as a selfish brat, more concerned with his own ego than anyone else's feelings. This was new to her. James hadn't finished though.

"We had fun together, getting into all sorts of trouble. I can remember when we found our first secret passage and ran outside in the dark. Merlin! Did we ever get detention for that one! Later on Peter joined us and of course we pulled off more pranks but there was always the odd period where Remus would disappear for a few days at a time. Oh he would still be around in class, but in the evenings he would be gone. And in the mornings he always looked a lot worse, like he'd been really sick in the night.

"Well, of course, me and Sirius asked him what was going on. Remus avoided the question at first but then when we told him we were his friends and we wanted to help him he finally told us. I'll never forget the look on his face." Lily found herself leaning forward as she listened to James. "It was as if he was scared of telling us. He was scared of how we might react. Would we abandon him? Would we stop being his friends? When I said that it didn't make any difference, well, he told me afterwards that was the happiest he's ever been. In fact that's the memory he uses for his Patronus charm. We decided then and there that if there was any way for us to help Remus we would."

Lily was entranced. She hadn't taken her eyes off James the whole time. "So then what happened?" she asked. James smiled.

"Obviously we couldn't help him as we were – he would have attacked us no matter how much he didn't want to. We tried though, we did little things. Helped him through the passages, kept a look out, that sort of thing."

"But you said Dumbledore already knew about Remus."

"He did and so did some of the other teachers, but a lot of people didn't. You didn't for one. Anyway eventually we found a way. It took us until our fifth year but we managed it."

Something clicked in Lily's mind. The stag, the dog and the rat. "You became an animagus. All three of you became animagi."

James nodded. "Yep. It was hard and it was dangerous but it was worth it to help Remus."

"Don't animagi have to register?" Lily asked.

James laughed. "Come on Lily you should know me by now. Rules and stuff – who cares?"

"But you were breaking the law! You could be caught!"

James shook his head. "We don't care. Remus is our friend. Anything is worth it to help him. We won't ever abandon him."

"But then what about last night? You brought me back here and left the others to take care of Remus. Why, if he's so important to you?" Lily didn't expect James's answer.

"Because you're my friend too Lily. I'd never leave you."

Before Lily could even think about stopping herself she had leapt up and wrapped her arms around James, burying her face deep into his chest. She could feel his own strong arms around her and knew that he was telling the truth. Gone forever was James the egotistical, selfish, belligerent prat and in its place was James the loyal, caring, generous friend. Lily was surprised to find that she was crying. She felt James lean down and whisper in her ear.

"You're welcome."

Lily pulled back and looked him in the face. She smiled through her tears. James reached up and wiped a couple away with his thumb. "What are these for?"

Lily shook her head. "I'm sorry. All these years I had this idea that you were the most selfish and arrogant person in the school and now..."

James put his finger on her mouth. "It's all right Lily." He held her close again.

After a few minutes he let go. Lily protested but James stood up. "I have a class now. I'll see you later." With that, and giving her a final look over his shoulder, he left the room.

...

At midday, Lily felt rested enough to go down to the Great Hall for lunch. There weren't that many students there, as lessons tended to be staggered at noon. As a result she didn't see her friend Alice in the hall or James for that matter. At the end of the Gryffindor table she saw Sirius and Remus eating in silence. Remus's head was bowed and he looked thoroughly miserable. Lily went over and sat down next to him.

Remus turned his head slowly towards her. "Li... Lily?" he said quietly.

Lily put her arm around his shoulder. "It's okay Remus. It wasn't your fault. James told me."

Sirius put his sandwich down. "See Moony? I told you she'd be all right!"

Lily smiled. "Moony?"

Remus nodded, but he still looked unhappy. "It's James's nickname for me. Sirius is Padfoot, Peter's Wormtail and James is Prongs. I suppose you can guess why. Look Lily I..."

Lily cut him off. "Shhh. I told you it's okay. You didn't know what you were doing. It's all right Remus. I forgive you."

That seemed to be what Remus wanted to hear as he started to sob quietly. Lily held him close until he had finished. The three of them then finished their lunch chatting amiably about their studies.

...

After lunch Lily went to Muggle Studies. She met up with Alice, who immediately pounced.

"Well someone looks happy today! Especially after skiving off all morning!"

Lily just smiled but didn't say anything. Her eye had been drawn to the front of the class where James was sitting. He looked over at her and grinned. Lily's smile grew even wider. Alice, of course, spotted this straight away.

"Ha! I knew it! James Potter, of all people!"

"Oh be quiet Alice." Lily was still smiling as she said this. Alice just chuckled and got on with the lesson.

...

That evening Lily was getting ready for her Head Girl patrol and James was getting ready for another night at the shack. Unlike previous occasions however they were being friendly with each other.

"Remus said you saw him and Sirius at lunch today." James said as he pulled on his cloak.

"That's right, I did. He told me about your nicknames." Lily laughed. "Prongs! Who came up with that?"

"Sirius would you believe?" James laughed too. "He also suggested we call ourselves the Marauders. Silly name really. Too pretentious."

"Pretentious? The great James Potter saying something is too pretentious?" Lily was enjoying herself. If she'd have known this was what James was really like she would have been friends with him a long time ago.

James grew serious. "You won't tell anyone will you? I mean I know you won't but..."

Lily cut him off. "Don't worry I won't breathe a word. Of course you'll have to do something for me in return."

"What's that?"

Lily smiled at him. "Teach me to be an animagus?"

James smiled too. "I'll try. Make take a few years though." He got up. "Don't wait up."

"James, wait." Lily stood up and walked towards him. Her voice grew soft. "Ask me again."

"What?"

Lily kept on coming. "Ask me that question you always ask me and I always say no."

James took a breath. "Lily, will you... will you go out with me?"

Lily reached him and put her hand on his cheek, putting her face close to his. "James, I'd love to." She closed the distance between t hem and kissed him softly on the lips. She closed her eyes and sighed into the kiss.

Now she was happy.

After a minute or so she pulled back. James looked like he had frozen with shock. She tapped him on the cheek. "Go on. Your friends are waiting for you."

"Right er... okay." James stammered. He swallowed and walked to the door. He looked back at Lily and she blew him a kiss. He grinned widely and left.

...

Patrol that night passed quickly for Lily. The moment she returned to her room she pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill. There was no reason why she should write to her sister or why her sister should reply. But she wanted to tell someone!

Lily sat down at the table, dipped the quill in ink and began to write.

Dear Tuney...

THE END

A/N I did say this would be a short one. Oh and by the way the letter Lily is writing is the one that Harry gets given in chapter 20 of Harry Potter and the Undiscovered Country.

It's hard writing or even reading a James/Lily fic because we know that they'll never get a happy ever after unlike other characters. There's an inherent tragedy already built in. Oh and by the way according to Harry Potter Wikia James and Lily were both born in 1960, which makes them 21 when Voldemort comes knocking. Tragedy see?

Anyway my next story is going to be Neville/Luna I think, but I don't know when I'll be able to make a start on it so keep a look out and sign up to follow me on twitter - cardinal001 - for story news and updates.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!